The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

2011-01-13T04:46:00.000-08:00

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Release Date:     Oct 1957
Genres:     War / Drama / Adventure
Awards:     Won 7 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 5 nominations
Runtime:     161 min.

Cast: William Holden (Shears), Alec Guinness (Colonel Nicholson), Jack Hawkins (Major Warden), Sessue Hayakawa (Colonel Saito), James Donald (Major Clipton), Geoffrey Horne (Lieutenant Joyce), Peter Moreton (Colonel Green (as Andre Morell)), Peter Williams (Captain Reeves), John Boxer (Major Hughes), Percy Herbert (Grogan), Harold Goodwin (Baker), Ann Sears (Nurse), Heihachiro Okawa (Captain Kanematsu (as Henry Okawa)), Keiichiro Katsumoto (Lieutenant Miura (as K. Katsumoto)), M.R.B. Chakrabandhu (Col. Broome Yai)
The Bridge on the River Kwais
Storyline

The film deals with the situation of British prisoners of war during World War II who are ordered to build a bridge to accommodate the Burma-Siam railway. Their instinct is to sabotage the bridge but, under the leadership of Colonel Nicholson, they are persuaded that the bridge should be constructed as a symbol of British morale, spirit and dignity in adverse circumstances. At first, the prisoners admire Nicholson when he bravely endures torture rather than compromise his principles for the benefit of the Japanese commandant Saito. He is an honorable but arrogant man, who is slowly revealed to be a deluded obsessive. He convinces himself that the bridge is a monument to British character, but actually is a monument to himself, and his insistence on its construction becomes a subtle form of collaboration with the enemy. Unknown to him, the Allies have sent a mission into the jungle, led by Warden and an American, Shears, to blow up the bridge.

excellent movies

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)